Taunting and Teasing
by Opaline Sapphire
Summary: "Nobody calls me weak and deaf without getting away with it," he hoarsely whispered into her ear. One shot.


_Second attempt at an Owen one-shot! This time a little more light-hearted. Reviews always welcome!_

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"What did you just say to me?" he growled, slowly turning to face her. She was smirking at him with her arms crossed, seemingly unconcerned about his reaction.

"What's the matter? You going deaf in your old age, too?" she teased, her amber eyes gleaming. "Huh, _old man_?" At this, he threw the hammer halfway across the mineshaft and menacingly started walking towards her. Gasping in shock, she dropped her hammer and started to turn and run away up the stairs. It was too late, however, and he strongly grabbed onto one of her wrists and flipped her to face him. As she tried to push off of him with her other hand, he gripped that wrist as well.

"Nobody calls me weak _and_ deaf without getting away with it," he hoarsely whispered into her ear as he thrust her against the craggy walls of the mines. She squeaked and struggled to release her arms, but he pinned her wrists to either side of her head. He grinned at her as she valiantly tried to remove her arms from his grasp. "Not so weak now, am I?" he said mockingly. Stopping her writhing, she raised her twinkling eyes to his and slyly smiled. Confused and suspicious, he furrowed his brow at her and tried to guess what she was thinking.

"You forgot about my feet!" she cried out as she suddenly stomped down on his foot with her thick boots. He yelped in pain and immediately released her hands. She laughed wickedly and called him an old man once more as she scampered down the stairs. Grumbling, he caressed his soon to be bruised foot and tried to listen to where she headed off to in the mines below. However, he couldn't hear anything except for the sound emitted by the electric lamps on the walls; she had already hidden in a dark corner on the floor below, waiting for him to catch up.

He was taking a while and she thought that maybe she had stomped on his foot a little too hard. Repentant, she slowly emerged from the dark corner and decided to go check on him. As soon as she walked into the light, however, she felt powerful hands grab her waist and – before she could even cry out – was thrown over his shoulders. She huffed and whatever regret she had for stomping on his foot disappeared.

"Owen, put me down!" she yelled at him as he began walking up the stairs to exit the mines. When she tried to push herself off of him, he just tightened his grasp around her. "You're squishing me!" she gasped out. He simply chuckled and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, what? I can't hear anything you're saying," he taunted her. "Must be my old age." He gave one last squeeze and she let out an "Oomph" then hit him on his back. Thrown over his shoulders, she couldn't quite tell which direction he was taking her, but soon she noticed the lighting within the rooms was brightening.

"Don't take me outside!" she squealed, resuming her attempts to escape his arms. Owen just grinned; past experience had pointed out to him that she became mortified whenever he carried her in public. She hated to look weak or overpowered in front of others, he remembered. To him, there was no greater punishment for her calling him weak than displaying his ability to subdue her in front of everyone in the Garmon district. Exiting the mine, she tried to cover her flushed face as she could feel all the townsfolk staring at the two of them.

"Molly! Are you okay?" cried out a tiny and concerned voice. Knowing that her face was still bright red, Molly didn't dare remove her hands from her face to expose her embarrassment. Instead, Molly moved her fingers so that she could barely peer at the little fire-haired girl. It was Chloe, the firecracker of an eight-year old who was also Owen's cousin. Her little face belied her concern as she trailed behind Owen watching Molly.

"She's fine, Chloe," calmly responded Owen as he continued walking. Chloe scrunched her face, not believing him. He should have known that his little cousin would be outside the blacksmiths and become concerned by his carrying Molly, but he was so intent on humiliating Molly after she teased him that he completely forgot about Chloe. He decided that maybe she would realize Molly was fine and leave them alone, but it was no such luck.

"Why are you carrying her then?" she innocently asked. Molly smiled, but her face was still hidden behind her hands. "Did she hurt her face?" Owen could feel Molly's body slightly shake as she silently laughed. He frowned, realizing this escapade might just backfire on him.

"No, Chloe," he replied exasperatedly. He loved his little cousin, but sometimes he wished that she wasn't so nosy.

"I should have Gramps call the doctor!" she exclaimed as she began to run back to the blacksmiths. Not expecting this, he yelled at Chloe to stop, but she had already entered the shop. Cursing, he set Molly back on her feet. She began to laugh hysterically at him and he just clenched his jaw in response as he walked into the shop.

"—And she was covering her face like it got hurt!" cried out Chloe as Owen closed the door behind him. Her grandfather stopped working at the forge and turned to face them. He glanced at Owen suspiciously and crossed his arms.

"What's this I hear about Molly getting hurt in the mines?" he sternly asked, seemingly not believing at all that Molly actually was in trouble.

"She isn't hurt," he replied, now in utter frustration. His face flushed slightly at the thought of explaining this now to not only Chloe, but also his uncle. Chloe suddenly gasped and turned to look at him sternly.

"You just left her outside! When she could be hurt?" she yelled at him and ran out the door. Owen quickly followed after her and was surprised to find Chloe standing on the front porch by herself. Chloe looked aggravated and confused. "Where is Molly?" she pointedly asked him. Owen groaned, realizing that Molly was just further teasing him by running away again.

"Marital problems?" suddenly asked his uncle behind him, a slight smirk on his face. Owen just gritted his teeth and waved one hand goodbye at them as he began to walk back down to the farm. He could hear Chloe ask her grandfather again about Molly, but he didn't wait around to hear his uncle's answer. As he walked past the carpenters, he noticed Luke standing outside with a wide grin on his face.

"Man, looks like no matter how hard you hold onto that one, she still manages to break free, huh?" Luke's grin grew even wider and he broke out into a chuckle. Owen narrowed his eyes at his so-called friend and continued down the path. "It's okay to admit you're getting older, you know!" Luke yelled at him, causing Owen to give his friend a particularly rude gesture. "Oh, you heard that, huh?" Luke mockingly called after him as Owen started onto the bridge and walked out of his view.

His muscles were now tense from all the provocation as he walked on to the fields surrounding the farmhouse. All the animals were out on the field, but Molly was nowhere in sight. Guessing that she was inside the farmhouse, he swiftly walked to the front door with his long legs. Opening the door, he readied himself to give her a piece of his mind about all the taunting and humiliation she had put him through today.

"Molly!" he intimidatingly yelled as he walked inside, focusing his eyes as he searched the room for her. However, she couldn't be found; he frustratingly combed through the rest of their house, but could find no hint of her anywhere. Sighing, he sat down on the couch and wracked his mind about where she could be. If the animals were in the field, he knew that she had to be somewhere on their property. Suddenly, he jumped up and ran out of the house. He had completely forgotten about the hot spring in the back of their property.

When he reached the spring, however, he still couldn't find her anywhere. Exasperated, he threw his hands in the air. He paused and stared at the spring, watching the steam rise from the hot water. Deciding that he could at least relax while he was out here, he removed most of his clothing and stepped down into the spring. Finally, his muscles began to loosen and he sank further into the spring so that only his head remained above water. He closed his eyes and thought about how Molly had so successfully goaded him earlier in the day. Although they constantly taunted one another, he had consistently found out the hard way that Molly was simply better than him at the execution. No matter how many times he thought that he might have the upper hand, some turn of events always permitted Molly to get the better of him.

He heard some clothing rustling nearby and he slowly opened his eyes. It was Molly, seemingly interested to find Owen in the hot spring. "It must be tiring to be so old, huh?" she stated with amusement in her eyes. He eyed her as she stood above him, one hand on her slender hip and a smile on her lightly pink lips. It didn't matter how many times she ridiculed him, he could never get irritated with someone as beautiful as her.

"You better be careful with all this provocation," he calmly stated back, "You may just get a rise out of me." She lightly laughed at him and began tugging her clothes off to join him in the hot spring. Leaving her undergarments on, she slipped into the water and smoothly moved over to join him. She wrapped her hands behind his neck and pulled her lips to his for a delicate kiss. When she withdrew, she smiled at him and moved behind him to start massaging his back. He sighed and relaxed his shoulders, allowing her to knead his muscles.

"For someone as old as you are, you sure do have a nice body," she purred into his ear, moving her body against his and bringing her hands to rub his chest. He couldn't help but smile.

"I'll take that as a compliment," he said with a chuckle. Owen then grabbed her wrists and dragged her through the water to face him. "You'd be surprised what this old body can still do," he continued as he pulled her wrists together and held her arms easily in one hand. As she raised an eyebrow at him, he drove her back against the wall then pushed her hands to behind her head. Her chest now arched forward and he drew himself onto her, kissing her neck and moving downwards to her collarbone. His free hand traced the curves of her body and he could feel her shiver from his touch. Kissing her lips deeply, his hand continued to wander along her body, causing her to squirm and finally moan.

"Owen…" she sighed into his ear, "Why don't we move this inside?" He smiled and released his grasp on her body, allowing her to pull herself out of the water. As he pulled out of the spring himself, she started putting her clothes back on.

"Why are you putting those back on when I'm just going to rip them off again?" he asked her with a grin. She laughed at him and shook her head.

"It's more fun this way, isn't it?" she replied as she threw his clothes at him. His gray eyes sparkling, he put his clothes back on and they walked back to the farmhouse. When they got to the front door, she gestured for him to lead them into the front room. He opened the door and walked through, only to be caught completely off guard by tens of people jumping out from behind their furniture and screaming a loud, "SURPRISE!" His eyes widened and his jaw slightly dropped at the sight of all his friends and family lining their front room. A colorful banner hung from the wall declaring, "Happy Birthday!" He turned to face Molly, who was covering her mouth and trying to hold back her laughter.

"Look, Owen!" cried out his little cousin, Chloe, from behind the couch, "Molly was okay all along! She even planned this awesome party for your birthday!" Owen smiled at his little cousin as she grabbed his hand and pulled him into the crowd of people in the room to celebrate his birthday. Chuckling, he thought to himself how Molly really was an incredible tease.


End file.
